written by Hayley Powell
Arriving at work it was just like any other day, checking my emails, setting up my team for the day and looking at my day ahead but that was all about to change.
I had worked at the bank for all my adult life. I was in my thirteenth year of service. I had developed and grown so much during my time there working my way up to management level.
Little did I know that day this was all about to change. This was the day I was told that my role was no longer required; I was going to be made redundant.
After the initial shock and upset my thoughts quickly raced to what was I going to do. The easy option would have been to apply for another role within the bank but during my time there I had found a real passion for fundraising. I felt it was time for a brave change; a chance to do something I really enjoyed.
I had always loved getting involved in the charity events. During the last five years, alongside my manager role, I was the “charity champion” – making all thing’s charity happen across my department and the building. I loved building relationships with local charities and delivering a calendar of events based on what colleagues wanted to do. I took great satisfaction in seeing the event come to life. I loved even more seeing what we had raised for that charity and how much it would help them be there for more people.
So, I didn’t take the easy option, instead I followed my heart and my dreams. Don’t they say fortune favours the brave? Well it certainly did for me. I secured a role as a Community Fundraiser for The Haven Wolverhampton and nothing has ever felt so right.
Now my days are never like any other day; they are quite the opposite but for all the right reasons. When I arrive home from work and my partner asks me how my day has been, he gets a very different reply. A conversation that sticks in my mind is this one…
“It was good” I replied “I have committed to eating some insects to raise money, created a certificate and letter to say thank you to some lovely donors, painted some props for an event, helped promote a few events we have coming up and then helped a lady who came to refuge yesterday with just the clothes she was standing in, I helped her find some clothes and toiletries from the donations we have received, how was yours?”
This is usually the reaction I get followed by a lot of questions.
No two days are ever the same. It is a fast paced ever changing environment, with so much to learn and so much to do. Yet it is so much fun along the way and, most importantly, so rewarding to know that the work I do is helping women and children who at their most vulnerable from the abuse they have suffered.
When I started my journey as a Community Fundraiser last year nothing could have prepared me for the roller-coaster ride I was about to embark on. I can honestly say I have loved every moment and I don’t want the ride to end!
So, I guess what I am trying to say is don’t just do what feel’s comfortable and familiar do what excites you, what you are passionate about and take every opportunity that you can.
“The doors will be opened to those who are bold enough to knock.”
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Hayley Powell is a Community Fundraiser at The Haven Wolverhampton.
The Haven Wolverhampton is a charity that supporting women and dependent children who are vulnerable to domestic violence, homelessness and abuse. You can find them on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, or visit there website here.
Nothing of course but social media is a very different skill to previous charity resources. Unlike direct mailing or phone advertising; social media is immediate. As soon as you press enter it is on your follower’s phone, laptop, or iPad. Every sentence, every space, every GIF transmitted to thousands of people in the time it takes to take a breath.
These posts can imply a complete lack of awareness and a lack of understanding of an important issue, which can undermine an organisation’s claim to authority. Supporters can find them awkward, funny or, even worse; tone-deaf. These posts can happen accidentally at any time but once it goes online there is no return. There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. Certainly not when the genie has been screen-shotted and posted on all platforms invented.
Last month a police service decided to ask for help finding a suspect, taking advantage of a wide and engaged community audience – an excellent example of modern policing. The crime in question was a sexual assault. An appalling crime and a truly traumatic event for the victim. Unfortunately, this was overshadowed by the person who posted the tweet using the phrase that the victim was ‘unhurt’.
It’s not just the police who can post a poorly considered social media campaign, NSPCC has recently been criticised by leading professionals in the field, survivors, and by donors for their ‘TalkPANTS’ campaign. What was intended was a fun awareness raiser for children to discuss consent.
Leading professionals like Jessica Eaton responded to the tweet in disgust pointing out that “abuse is prevented by adults” not children. It is not just professionals in shock. One of the tweets was from a long-term supporter who had run sponsored races for the NSPCC – clearly a committed donor. He is also horrified and wanted a public response to the criticism of the tweet. An ill-thought through marketing campaign has potentially lost a loyal donor forever.
The ability to interact with events as they happen helps show a charity’s commitment to a cause and to its mission. It offers a charity to show its ‘natural voice’; granting an authenticity that donors appreciate. It is however essential that speed does not become more important than engagement, wider cultural awareness, and common sense. ”
It’s important to think not only what you want to say and how it is being said but also how a reader will interpret what you are saying before posting. Asking a colleague or even taking the time to get up and make a cuppa will save all sorts of distress and embarrassment. It may even save a donor relationship.
It’s like that school assembly staple, the parable of the blind-folded men and the elephant: if you asked my counterparts in Ethiopia or South Sudan what Amref does, their answers would bear little resemblance to each other’s, or my own. None of us would be wrong – but you’d need them all to see the truth.
We started by creating a taskforce from across Canada, Kenya, the Netherlands, Tanzania, and the UK – all with the shared goal of establishing a global policy on image consent and a set of practical tools for implementation. At each stage we took our drafts back to a bigger working group representing every Amref office. Once we had achieved broad agreement as a group, we took it to senior management at global level.
Like many things, it all comes back to relationships: between NGO and community members, between photographer and subject. At Amref, we’re lucky to have strong relationships with the communities we work with; many of them built and maintained over several decades. Whilst these relationships don’t allow us to ever assume consent, they do enable us to have frank and open conversations.
employees (obvs!) – and more productive ones too, less likely to get stressed into sickness or look for another job (slightly less obvious) – but, and this is crucial, fun helps charities fulfil their mission even more effectively.
important for everyone, but even more so when the issues they may be working with are deeply upsetting or difficult. This doesn’t mean taking those issues lightly. Quite the opposite; by lifting staff spirits, it acts as a refresher, helping them tackle those challenges with renewed vigour and optimism. Staff with a smile are a lot more pleasant for clients and colleagues alike than ones with a frown.
Many people my age are “Accidental Fundraisers”. We fell into this work through our passion and learnt from each other as we went along. I describe my education like twisting a rope as I climb the mountain. Fast forward twenty years, my children are starting their own lives and I am an international speaker, certified fundraising executive and a trusted consultant. For better or worse, I am very much a “professional”.
We need to remember how our sector started. All around the world, groups of passionate people came together to ask how they could address a need in their community. At its very core, that is still what our donors, volunteers and our organizations want. Sometimes that may mean leaving the spreadsheets at home and simply having a meaningful conversation.
Kimberley Mackenzie is an award winning fundraiser, Certified Fundraising Executive and AFP International Master Trainer. She works as a consultant with a variety of organizations to advance a culture of philanthropy and create transformative results that raise more money for their missions. A sought after thought leader, facilitator, speaker and trainer Kimberley has been in the fundraising trenches since 2001 and was a driving force in the early days of SOFII.org. Kimberley has also served as Editor for Hilborn Canada’s eNEWS – a weekly publication send to over 14,000 fundraising professionals every week – was a member of the Advisory Panel for the Rogare Think Tank at Plymouth University and an executive member of the Planned Giving Council of Simcoe County. 
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